App State, Charlotte Agree To Football Series

BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University and Charlotte have agreed to a two-year football series beginning in 2018, the schools announced on Monday. The series begins on Sept. 8, 2018 at Jerry Richardson Stadium in Charlotte and concludes on Sept. 7, 2019 in Boone.

The games will be the first between Appalachian State, which has established itself as one of North Carolina's most successful college football programs and joins the NCAA Division I FBS Sun Belt Conference in 2014, and Charlotte, which played its inaugural football campaign in 2013 and joins the FBS ranks and Conference USA in 2015.

The home-and-home arrangement is the fourth that Appalachian State has established with non-conference FBS opponents. Appalachian also has two-game series set with C-USA's Southern Miss (2014-15) and Old Dominion (2015-16) and Akron (2016-17) of the Mid-American Conference.

What they're saying about the Appalachian State-Charlotte football series:
"Since Charlotte announced it was beginning a football program several years ago, it has been a priority to try to arrange a series that would be great for our student-athletes and fans. Many thanks go to (Charlotte director of athletics) Judy Rose and (Charlotte) Coach (Brad) Lambert for their efforts in helping the series come to fruition. We hope that it is a series that will extend well past this initial two-year arrangement and become a showcase for FBS football in western North Carolina and beyond."- Appalachian State director of athletics Charlie Cobb

"It's exciting to set up a series with Charlotte. The proximity of our campuses, the similarity of our schools and the familiarity that our student-athletes have with each other from the high-school level make it a natural rivalry. It will be a great series for both school's fans and for college football in North Carolina."- Appalachian State head coach Scott Satterfield

"We are thrilled to make this announcement. Adding a series against an in-state opponent that has the tradition and history of Appalachian State is important to the continued growth of our program. We can't thank (Appalachian State A.D.) Charlie Cobb and coach (Scott) Satterfield enough. We know our fans have been looking forward to this possibility and it's a natural step as both programs transition into FBS play."- Charlotte director of athletics Judy Rose

"It's a game that should be played and I'm glad that we were able to get it on our schedule. We're excited about the opportunity to play a great program from right here in our region. This will be fun for our fans and I'm sure they will be excited as well."- Charlotte head coach Brad Lambert